


Claws and Clarity

by RomancebyFaye



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Garak's POV, Introspection, Light Angst, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, midnight musing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-18
Updated: 2014-11-18
Packaged: 2018-02-26 03:40:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2636648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RomancebyFaye/pseuds/RomancebyFaye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Julian falls asleep almost immediately after lovemaking. Garak does not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Claws and Clarity

**Author's Note:**

  * For [subspacecommunication (nattherat)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nattherat/gifts).



> Garak in this story is based on Subspacecommunication (nattherat)'s redesign. Check out their art!

Claws and Clarity

* * *

 

 

Garak sat on the bed, one leg perched beneath him, his tail swaying off the side as he gently traced shapes on golden skin. He was careful not to press too hard with his claw; he wanted to observe - not disturb - his companion.  
  
It never ceased to amaze him, the way Julian shifted forms in near instantaneous fashion. He flowed from being pulled taut, every muscle in his body quivering and straining as he climbed to his peak, to slowly dissolving into a mass of complete relaxation after it had been reached.  
  
Only minutes ago they had finished a particularly intense bout of lovemaking, and yet, Julian was already quite asleep.  
  
The first time Garak had witnessed it, he had been quite unnerved. Cardassian’s did not become catatonic after mating. In fact, they often became more alert to any possible threat to themselves or their mate during and after coitus. Of course, Garak himself had always been alert to those sharing his bed as well.  
  
The tiny hairs covering his lover raised in appreciation as Garak tracked his sharp claws over the delicate curve of Julian’s spine. A small sound of pleasure escaped his Human, and Garak watched as full lips curved upwards even in sleep.  
  
Pressing his palm onto the skin Garak found that the sweat adorning Julian’s body had yet to cool. He dragged his hand more firmly, watching in fascination as more of the tiny ’goose bumps’ erupted underneath the press of his claws.  
  
It would take only a moment to press enough to break the skin; to let blood well and flow from wounds made so quickly that Julian would never even wake.  
  
This Julian knew. Garak had even said as much to him once.  
  
He had been slightly offended at being seen as such little threat. He had spoken with a teasing tone, but Julian had somehow understood his meaning. The Human had looked at him with one of those rare flashes of clarity that made Garak feel as if all his lies and deceptions were as flimsy as wet Alturian lace.  
  
Then Julian had smiled. But it wasn’t a smile for Garak.  
  
Julian‘s focus had shifted to some other place in that moment. It had been a smile full of pain, a smile of self depreciation that fell somewhere in Julian’s private thoughts.  
  
“If you were going to kill me, would it matter if I were awake?”  
  
Even now, Garak keenly felt regret at forcing Julian to give voice to such a thing.  
  
Of course Julian knew he was a threat, of course he knew Garak was dangerous, that he was a liar, an assassin, a murderer - that whatever he had been called to be, he had been.  
  
Even then, Julian had known. Even now Julian knew. And yet he still ate with him, talked with him, argued, laughed, and flirted with him. He fought with him, he reasoned with him, he tried to understand him and be understood by him. He believed Garak could be good, could be better than what he was.  
  
And that, Garak simply couldn’t comprehend.  
  
He reverently raked his claws over skin that he was, by some miracle, allowed to touch and gaze upon.  
  
 _“If you were going to kill me, would it matter if I were awake?”_

Perhaps Julian knew even more than Garak himself that his claws could cut just as easily as they could caress.  
  
Ever since that night, Garak had realized that it wasn’t trust that allowed Julian to sleep in his bed, it was something even far more rare.  
  
It was acceptance.


End file.
